Moreover, I have sworn that while there is a king in
Zululand and I draw the breath of life, never again will I set
foot in a royal kraal, because when last I did so at the slaying
of the witch, Mameena, the king who is dead thought it well to
utter threats against me, and never more will I, the Opener of
Roads, be threatened by a mortal. Therefore if the King and his
Council seek to drink of the water of my wisdom, it must be in
the place and hour of my own choosing. If this cannot be, let me
abide here in my house and let the King seek light from other
doctors, since mine shall remain as a lamp to my own heart.'"
Now I saw that these words greatly disturbed Cetewayo who feared
Zikali, as indeed did all the land.
"What does the old wizard mean?" he asked angrily. "He lives
alone like a bat in a cave and for years has been seen of none.
Yet as a bat flies forth at night, ranging far and wide in search
of prey, so does his spirit seem to fly through Zululand.
Everywhere I hear the same word. It is--'What says the Opener of
Roads?' It is--'How can aught be done unless the Opener of Roads
has declared that it shall be done, he who was here before the
Black One (Chaka) was born, he who it is said was the friend of
Inkosi Umkulu, the father of the Zulus who died before our
great-grandfathers could remember; he who has all knowledge and
is almost a spirit, if indeed he be not a spirit?' I ask you,
Macumazahn, who are his friend, what does he mean, and why should
I not kill him and be done?"
"O King," I answered, "in the days of your uncle Dingaan, when
Dingaan slew the Boers who were his guests, and thus began the
war between the White and the Black, I, who was a lad, heard the
laughter of Zikali for the first time yonder at the kraal
Ungungundhlovu, I who rode with Retief and escaped the slaughter,
but his face I did not see.
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